Postdoc (M/F) – characterization of nanostructured membranes for reverse electrodialysis

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description Designing electrolyte membrane for blue energy conversion. The CellOsmo ANR project aims at developing a new generation of membranes to harvest osmotic energy from salinity gradients existing between fresh and salty waters (ocean, brine, and wastewater). Such energy is renewable, non-intermittent and the global reachable power is estimated to 1 TW (in comparison the 2020 hydroelectricity power only reached 0.02 TW).1 Such energy can be converted into electricity by reverse electrodialysis (RED) which relies on stacks of cation and anion exchange membranes to transport ions from salty to fresh water. The power generated by RED depends on the cell design, the salt gradient and the membrane properties. The candidate will develop structural characterization methodologies of selected membranes synthesized by the partners of the ANR project including the evaluation of the nanoconfinement lengthscale by SAXS/SANS, of the grafted polyelectrolyte conformation by SANS, and of the swollen nanochannel morphology by electron and atomic force microscopy (SEM, TEM, AFM). The CellOsmo project will provide key insights related to two main scientific questions:. - How to play with the copolymer macromolecular architecture, grafting onto conditions, formulation and process to tune the ion concentration and distribution, and the nanochannel size within a nanocellulose single ion electrolyte membrane?.